Grow Your Blog

I would like to thank Vicki at 2 Bags Full for hosting the Grow Your Blog Party.  I can only imagine the amount of time she puts in to this event...  Thank you, Vicki!  (I cannot wait to learn more about her Pink Scarf Project.)

I would also like to thank Elizabeth at Sew In Love for letting me know about this blog party.  (If you have visited her site, be forewarned, her stitching is gorgeous.)

As for me... My name is Renee Younger, I am 42 and live in Oregon.  I am married to a wonderful man and we have been blessed with two wonderful children.  One is nearly 17 and has sported the nickname "Monkey" nearly 16 of those years.  (Thankfully, he likes the nickname, as I use it as often as his birth name.)  My youngest just turned 14.  I have a nickname for him that I am not allowed to share (I fear it is too cutesy for his liking.)  When he was 5 or 6 he asked me to change his nickname to "Piggy" because he could oink so well.  I politely declined, explaining he would thank me when he was older.  (For the record, he has thanked me for that decision on more than one occasion.)  We decided his new nickname would be "Mutt" because he loves all types of dogs. I fear, I still use my personal nickname for him, except here on my blog.  (Poor kid.)  However, I used the boys' nicknames for the url for my blog; thus,  monkeyandmutt.blogspot.com.

Here is a recent picture of me.  I apologize because it is blurry.  I tend to be our family photographer, so I escape the camera lens most of the time. However, over Christmas, my hubby took a couple of pictures of me and this is the least blurry of the two. (We'll blame my camera...)

This blog began as a way for me to hold myself accountable for finishing up some of my projects.  I even listed weekly goals.  Perhaps I should take that habit back up ~ lol!  Now, it is mostly my way of sharing crazy quilting.

Things I love:
Cooking ~ This has been both a blessing and a curse this past year.  After several months of illness and lots of normal tests that left my doctor baffled, I was referred to a naturopath and discovered food was the likely culprit.  On the positive side, eliminating gluten, dairy, eggs, most grains, sugar, honey, beef, pork, chocolate, and ~gasp~ coffee from one's diet is definitely one way to shed some pounds.  The Internet is an amazing source for hunting down new recipes and learning about substitutions to tweak recipes so I can eat them.  (Although, I will admit, on the days this feels particularly challenging I can be found humming Monty Python's song, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."  I think I will adopt it as my theme song for the year ~ lol!)

Running ~ I love running.  Due to a foot injury, I have not been at it for about a year.  (I even completed the Warrior Dash in 2012 with my eldest son, sister-in-law and best friend from college.  They were great about waiting for me to catch up so we could go through each obstacle together.  My husband cheered us on and played photographer.)   It is my hope to get back to running this year.  (I really do miss it, but I also have a confession. To be totally honest, I mentally mock myself during at least the first mile of every run.  I wonder why I am doing it, as I do not really enjoy the process.  However, by the end of a run, I am exhilarated and cannot wait for the next one.  My husband says I am a dork, but I am his dork, so it is okay.)

Writing ~ I love writing.  I actually finished the 50,000 word goal in NaNoWriMo in November of 2012.  Of course, that novel needs almost a complete do-over, so I hope to get that done this year.  (Hmmm... I really should go back to weekly goal setting...)  My husband likes to point out that my gift (or curse?) of verbosity comes in handy here.  (Verbose? Me?  Well, let's face it,  this post is already turning into a novella...)

Crazy Quilting ~ Over the past couple of years, crazy quilting has become my true passion.  If I go a few weeks without working on a crazy quilt block, I get grumpy.  I long for it.  However, I suppose as far as addictions go, this is a healthy one to have.

I stumbled upon the Crazy Quilting International Blog and joined their Yahoo! Groups almost two years ago. I have learned so much from the wonderful community there. (If you want to risk spending a couple of hours admiring some amazing eye candy, click on the link to their blog above ~ or on either of the CQJP links below!)

Last year, I committed to the Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2013 (CQJP 2013.)  I would love to say I finished, but I allowed myself to get stuck on my May block. (Yep.  I definitely need to get back to weekly goals.)  I decided to make this project one of landscape themed crazy quilt blocks.  When they are finished, I plan to put them into a quilt.  My mother-in-law would like me to enter it into the Northwest Quilting Expo in Portland in September. I am not so sure about that, but I am thrilled she likes my work.

In spite of my failure to finish last year, I signed up for CQJP 2014 and just finished my first block. I plan to make purses out of each of the blocks this year.  I may try to sell them at a Christmas bazaar.  Maybe.  I have been encouraged to try selling some of my crazy quilted projects through Etsy.com.  I have a tendency to second-guess my work; so, we'll see...

Blogging ~ As nice as it is to share my crazy quilting with my husband and my two boys, it is fun to have a place to share the projects I am working on with others that share my love for the craft.  I share photos of some projects as I go.  Others, I complete before I post.  (I find this motivates me to finish them before starting on something new!)  This year, I joined Pinterest, and I have shared photos of a few projects I made using ideas found there (one is seen in the photo to the left.) I have also added a few photos of my crazy quilt projects on a Pinterest board.  However, I think I prefer sharing here.  Perhaps this is because my favorite part of blogging has been making some great on-line friends over the past couple of years.

Crazy Quilting Projects:
So far this year, I have completed the CQI Winter/Christmas blocks for our round robin rotation and my CQJP 2014 January block (pictured here.)

Items I plan to share on my blog in the near future include:

1. A gift I am working on
2. The purse I plan to make with my CQJP 2014 January block
3. The 6 blocks I need to piece for the CQI Heart DYB Round Robin
4. My CQJP 2014 February block (which is not yet pieced and will likely be a test run of the block idea I have in mind for the Heart DYB round robin)
5. My block to embellish from the CQI Winter/Christmas DYB Round Robin
6. The wall hanging I plan to create with all of my CQI Winter/Christmas blocks
7. My CQJP 2013 May block (better late than never?!)
8. A crazy quilted hexagon to participate in my first swap with the World Wide Crazy Quilters Yahoo! Group

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Please feel free to leave a comment and include the name of your blog so I can stop by and visit.

Hugs,

Renee